There are probably better chocolate delivery systems than cake. Flour and overbaking can mute the flavor. This explains the popularity of molten lava cakes and dense brownie-like cakes. Layer cakes can get dry or wimped out.

For decades we had a reigning chocolate layer cake recipe in our household. We were happy. No complaints. But that was before I experienced my recipephany. I opened The Hershey’s Chocolate Treasury, copyright 1984, which I bought a few years ago at a thrift store. There the Black Magic Cake greeted me, its modest sidebar labeling it as Hershey’s most requested cake recipe. How was I to resist?

Out of the oven came chocolate perfection. Suddenly I had a vision of a sweet old Mrs. Hershey smiling at me, saying “What did I tell you? Isn’t this the best?” And I have never looked at chocolate cake the same way since.

Why it’s different

Moist, intensely chocolatey yet surprisingly light, this is truly magic. It’s easy to mix. No sour cream, butter, or transfats. It cools down to perfectly flat layers — what other cake has ever done that? It pours into the pans more like a beverage than a batter. There is twice the baking soda as baking powder, which is unusual. The coffee makes it complex and black. Because it uses cocoa rather than unsweetened baking chocolate, you can make it as chocolatey as you want. And for some reason, I think cocoa makes for more intense flavor than the chocolate squares.

To confirm its magnificence, I Googled “Platonic ideal of a chocolate cake.” First up was a blog introducing this very recipe, ingredient for ingredient, credited to the Barefoot Contessa. No, Contessa, this is not your recipe. You’ll have to answer to the Hershey’s Company for that.

This recipe has become a legend. It is one of the few things I have successfully passed down to my daughter. It seems to know exactly what I want, time after time. It comforts me, pleases everyone, and is a joy to make.

* To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup. These days I prefer Saco dried buttermilk powder (1 packet makes 1 cup), which I sprinkle into the dry ingredients. Then I add the cup of water with the wet ingredients.

Cocoa frosting: Melt or soften 3 tablespoons butter, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup cocoa (to taste), 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, 3 teaspoons vanilla, and maybe 3 tablespoons of hot water (one tablespoon at a time), or just enough to make it spreading consistency. Whisk until smooth. You can also use coffee or milk instead of water, whatever you want.

My friend S. had a birthday the other day, and I made the Black Magic cake for him. Came out really good apparently, because that was Thursday and today is Sunday and it is almost gone. He, his roommate and all of his roommate’s male friends have been eating it, and apparently they are “all in love with me” because of it.
This was said in jest, of course, but what they didn’t realize was that they were in love with vanilla, coffee, vinegar, and COCOA.

I have been asked by my family not to cook – so it must have truly been Black Magic at work when I made this cake and it came out brilliantly! Of course it could have been that my sister and neice worked the magic. My sister pointed out that it’s important to add the hot liquid (coffee or instant w/boiling water) slowly so that the egg mixture doesn’t cook. (I would have ended up with scambled eggs, so I share this lesson learned.)
With frosting on top, Janice

Thanks, Janice, and thanks Janice’s sister! Glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for the boiling liquid note. So I added “then cooled” in the recipe, as I usually add it cooled down. I’m glad to know that adding it hot slowly also works, in the event I don’t want to wait.

Hi, I’m Janice’s sister, Chris. Yes, my daughter and I did help make this fabulous cake. It is now my absolute favorite chocolate cake! My daughter is 12 years old and loves to bake; so it was alot of fun teaching her how to make a cake from scratch. The “tempering” of the eggs was key; or as you now suggest, to cool it down.

I look forward to trying some other recipes; as I have added you to my “favorites”.

All last weekend Willy kept asking if I had made the Chocolate cake yet, and I kept telling him I wasn’t going to make it just for the two of us. So this weekend, we have our kids coming up, have laid in the ingrediants, and can’t wait to see how it turns out. This is a great idea for a blog, Diane, and creative idea/name.

As this may be Andrew’s favorite food of all time, I’m going to have to try this recipe someday. I do have a question though – you mention using wax paper for easy release, but do you mean parchment? I was under the impression that you’re not supposed to bake wax paper.

Good to hear from you! As I understand it, wax paper is fine (and recommended for this kind of thing) as long as it is covered by batter. Apparently, it can burn when exposed directly to the heat, such as when you’re baking cookies. Parchment paper would probably work as well, but I’ve never tried it for anything but roasting veggies. Thanks!

Andris, lover of all things chocolate approved of this last time I made it, and I just made it today again for my mom’s birthday. The good, strong coffee and I believe the buttermilk are key. Thanks Diane!

Hi Diane,
So glad you have this recipe on your blog, since many years ago i called Nestle to get it and it had apparently gone by the wayside. The oldest employee at Nestle (had been working there for like 50 years) had a copy of it at home and actually dug it up for me and called me the next day (awesome). I scribbled it on a piece of scratch paper. Well, needless to say, that scratch paper is getting old and withered and the ink is running. I’m making this recipe as cupcakes as I write this, I’m sure it will turn out great (and even better as I added the extra cocoa). Can’t wait to try your frosting recipe. Thanks!

Although a little different on the ingredients list, the favorite of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a cake very similar to this. If you have never read the story of the nation’s birthday balls to celebrate his birthday and raise money for Infantile Paralysis, it is a fasinating look (including interesting pictures and posters) into our country’s history. I did not live in his era, but enjoy reading about it. Secondly — waxed paper is a wonderful release. My mom was a home economics teacher and I spent hours cutting out waxed paper cake rounds, etc. for her baking. Great memories.